Professor T.

I discovered Professor T on PBS. The first 13 episodes were so good, I am paying to watch Series 2. All the acting is top notch. These are not familiar actors to me, but I am very impressed. Each small mystery is interesting and fun to solve along with the cast. I can't wait for Series 3 to be available in the States too!

Professor Jasper Teerlinck lectures in criminology at Antwerp University and sometimes helps the police with active cases. He is no ordinary crime fighter; not only is he very direct he is also rather troubled... some might say he is actually insane. He frequently sees things that aren't there; imagining people breaking into song and in one case seeing a man literally as a puppet complete with strings! The other characters are interesting too; most notably Inspector Annelies Donckers, a police officer who was once a student of the Professor; Paul Rabet, a senior police officer with issues of his own and Christina Flamant, another senior officer who was once involved with the professor.

When one first starts watching this series one may wonder just what is going on; is it a drama or is it a comedy... the truth is it is a bit of both with a touch of tragedy too. Koen De Bouw is great as Professor T; the character could so easily have been annoying or silly but he makes the professor likeable and believable. The supporting cast are solid too; most notably Ella Leyers as Annelies and Goele Derick as Mrs Sneyer's, the professor's secretary who steals every scene she is in despite being a relatively minor character. The cases are typically contained within a single episode, although the final case of each of the two seasons is spread over two episodes. These are fairly standard murder mysteries which are well handled with each having plenty of suspects to keep viewers guessing. The series does throw up some surprises as characters have to deal with personal issues one wouldn't expect in such a series; these are dealt with well; giving depth to the characters rather than detracting from the story. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of murder mysteries who are looking for something a little different.

These comments are based on watching in Dutch with English subtitles.

In spite of potential unreality and exaggeration (I am not sure that a person like that could be in contact with young people and assist authorities nowadays), but the concept and its realisation are really distinct. True, the cases are not equally interesting, but when the wrongdoer could be guessed in advance, there is always a twist in his-her motive and some aspect the viewer (as well as the police) was unable to ascertain...

The gem of this Series is undoubtedly Koen de Bouw - he is really something, so different from his other performances; I have also briefly looked at remake trailers and must state that no other actor in the role of Professor T. Is up to this task. Plus, here my another favourite was Goele Derick as Ingrid Sneyers. Well, the remaining cast was good as well, though I was not fond of certain replacements in Seasons 2 and 3... As for the latter, I disagree with those claiming that Season 3 is worse or unnecessary, I find it pleasant change of venues and skilful roundup of the story, no hasty finish due to less viewers, lack of funds, etc.

Thus - 10 points for performances and depiction of "crazy moments", 8 for the smoothness - 9 in total. Good work!

T. is spectacularly good. It has humour, high quality acting. The storyline and dialogue are surprising and captivating. The direction is exquisite, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, sometimes chillingly emotional. Koen De Bouw is totally different from all his other roles, his comic timing and humour is spot on. Ella Leyers is very natural and spontaneous, and touching in her scenes with the equally authentic Gène Bervoets. Herwig Ilegems is a real comic gem, we already knew that, but this time he proves that he can be very believable in a dramatic vein. T. is not the classical whodunit, but it is thriller, comedy and drama all in once. It succeeds on all three levels. This series deserves a lot of viewers!

I thoroughly enjoyed Professor T., and was increasingly drawn into the two series available on UK's All4 channel, ultimately binge watching! Yes, it takes a while to get into its stride, so disregard the Guardian reviewer's lazy and flippant review based only on the first episode. The series' writers' intentions only become clear over time and some of the best scenes (and explanations of the Professor's complicated past) are left building right up to the closing episodes of Series 2. If there are echoes of previous TV dramas, so there are in a myriad of small screen offerings - where could we find total originality after so many decades of TV? Humour, tragedy, suspense, romance and whodunit unravellings take turns to entertain, and I ended up really liking all the main characters, finding the acting and directing high-end throughout. The European aspects might be appreciated more by a UK audience drilled in Scand-noir than by US viewers, as we know Americans often prefer to remake a successful Euro-series or movie in English on home soil to guarantee a good audience. Still, if subtitles and a foreign ambiance are fine by you, I'd unreservedly recommend giving this thoughtful Belgian drama a go. The intriguing series 2 ending leads me to think a third series might be pending.